Advertising device



E.. M. MAssr-:Y

ADVERTISING DEVICE Flled June'ls 1924 Nov. 9

Patented Nov. 9, 1926.

EDWARD M. MASSEY, OF WYNNEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LOGAN B. GILL, 0F OVERBROOK, PENNSYLVANIA.

.ADVERTISING DEVICE.

Application sied' ruhe 19, i924. serial No. 720,905.

My invention relates to advertising devices, a principal object thereof being to provide means for projecting a series of letters forming a word, a picture or any other desired symbol upon a suitable inedium in such manner that the word, picture or symbol appears to the observer to be floating in space or, in other words, appears as disassociated from the medium against which it is projected and which to the observer is entirely or substantially invisible.A

Further objects and novel features of construction and arrangement comprehended by my invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which I have shown one form of means for its accomplishment.

The invention particularly lends itself to use in connection with advertising display cards one side or face of which carries pictorial or printed matter, or both; these cards, to use a convenient term, although they are often made of substances other than cardboard, are intended to be placed in a show window or set upon a counter, being usually supplied with bases or angularly disposed wings or other means for holding the card in vertical position, and are frequently made' of fanciful or decorative outline 4so as to present a pleasing appearance and attract the attention of the observer to the advertisiig matter appearing on the face of the car in association with a card or other display device of this character, the latter may be provided with a suitably disposed opening adjacent which certain of the operative parts of the invention are disposed and supported in the manner hereinafter described with the screen or medium upon whichl the word or symbol is -to be projected in the rear of the opening in such manner that the word, picture or symbol projected thereon will be visible through the opening which forms in effect a framev therefor, but while so visible will appear to the observer as disassociated with the card and also with the medium on which it is projected so that an effect produced is as if the word or symbol was oating in the air somewhat in the rear of the plane of the card or other display device.

In the adaptation of my invention for use ,Y

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated one embodiment of the invention in operative association with a portion of a card of the character referred to, Fig. 1 being a rear perspective view thereof; Fig. 2

a vertical fragmentary section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1, and Fig.- 3 a rear elevation of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 2, like numerals being used to designate the saine elements in the several figures. .p

It will be understood that the card 1 may be of any desired size and shape and of any suitable material, and as the saine forms a support for certain parts of the invention I shall for convenience hereinafter refer to the same as the support; in the drawing only a fragmentary portion of this support is shown as it ordinarily will be of considerable size and, aspreviously stated, will enerally be provided with suitable means not shown) for maintaining it in an u right position. y Moreover, the support will) generally be provided on its front face, that is, the face which is turned away from the observer in Fig. 1 and designated as 1 in Fig. 2, with printed or pictorial advertising matter. As display cards of this general character are in common use further reference thereto is deemed unnecessary.

In accordance with my invention the support or card may be provided at any suitable point with an opening or' window 2 conveniently of elliptical shape with its major,

axis disposed in a horizontal plane, the size of the Vwindow being preferably determined by the size and shape of the support as well as by the size of the projected word or symbol which is to be observed therethrou h. In the rearof the support and in suita le relation with the window 2 and with each other I arrange a screen 3, a stencil 4 in which isl cut out or otherwise formed the word, symbol or other deviceprojected on the screen and a source of illumination, con veniently an electric bulb, 5, together with means for supporting 'these severalparts in such relative position that light from the bulb will pass through the stencil and be received on the screen in such manner as to reflect through the window a replica of the desi which is formed in the stencil.

Mgdlile specific-ally for accomplishing these results, I may provide a box-like casing 6 having a front wall 7, rear wall 8, end walls 9 and a bottom 10; this casing may conveniently be made of sheet metal and provided with means whereby it may be removably supported on the support 1 with the front face of the wall 7 adjacent therear face of the support. For this purpose the wall 7 may' be extended laterally beyond the end Walls 9 to provide flanges or lugs 7 .which may be drilled for the passage of screws 11 which pass through the support and are p rovided with nuts 12 bearing against the flanges; but any other convenient means for holding the casing in position on the 'support may be employed if'desired.

Within the casing I arrange an light bulb conveniently by supporting the same in a socket 5 secured to one of the end walls of the casing, a conducting cord 13 being led through the casing and connected with the socket for supplying the bulb with current; in use, the other end of this cord will be ordinarily supplied 'with a plug (not shown) which may be connected to any suitable source of current supply. While under certain conditions-it may be desirable toj employ an ordinary socket intended to de iver current continuously to the light whenever the same is flowing in the cable 13, I prefer that the socket 5 shall be of such a character as to automatically light and extinguish the light 5 at predetermined intervals; sockets of this kind are in common use. and may be readily purchased in the open market so that y further description thereof is unnecessary.

The stencil 4 is diposed at the upper end of the casing, is pre erably of sufficient size toclose the same, and may be removably supported in position, conveniently byforming grooved ways 15 and 16 adjacent the upper edges ofthe walls 7 and 8 adapted to receive the longitudinal edges of the stencil when slid into position from either'end of the casing. Thus the Stencil may be readily reymoved when. desired so as to atford access to the interior ofthe casing or to allow the stencil to be replaced with another having a different design formed therein.

The stencil may be formed of any suit-` able material such-as cardboard or thin metal, the letters or other design which is to be projected being cut out therefrom so as to permit the rays oflight to pass through the stencil or rather the cutout portions thereof, the body of the stencil being ordinarily substantially impervious to light rays; under certain conditions, however, it--m'ay be found desirable instead of forming the stencil from opaque material to form it of glass or other translucent material and to block out the letters or other design by coating portions of the stencil with an opaque paint orthe like so that the light rays will pass through the uncoated parts of the stencil but will be prevented from passing through the coated parts thereof.

electric j It will be noted that the stencil is disposed in inclined relation with respect to the front and rear walls of the casing so as to slope` downwardly and rearwardly at a suitable angle which under ordinary conditions w1ll be generally about 45 to 'the horizontal. This result may be effected by making the front wall ot the casing-higher than the rear Wall and sloping the upper edges of the side Walls at the proper angle so that they will lie closely adjacent the under side o f the stencil when the latter is in position and thus substantially prevent the escape of light rays from the casing save through the cutout or transparent portions of the stencil.

The screen or medium 3 on which the light rays impinge after their passage'through the stencil is disposed thereabove in suitably in-A clined relation thereto. This screen may preferably consist of a sheet of glass or other suitable material in Width approximating the length of the stencil and of suliicient length to extend froma point on the support above the window 2 to a point somewhat invrear ot the rear edge of the stencil. For supporting the screen in operative position I may provide the casing with a pair of laterally spaced rearwardly extending wings or brackets 18 each having a horizlontal upper edge provided with a series of notches -19 adapted to receive the rear edge ot' the screen.k These vWings may be made of sheet metal and respectively hinged to the rear wall of the casing by vertically disposed hinges 20 in such manner that when desired the wings may be folded inwardly against the rear wall so as to facilitate transportation or shipment of the casing when the screen is removed and 'l the casing detached from the support, or ma be turned outwardly substantially at rig tangles to the rear Wall of the casing so as to support the screen when its lower rear edge .is engaged with the notches on their upper edges as shown in Fig. l, the upper or forward edge of the screen under these con ditions resting against the rear face ofthe support above the window.

The several parts of the device bein constructed and assembled substantially 1n the.

manner described, when the lightbulb 5 is turned on a re lica on the screen of the letters or other esign in the stencil will be visible to any one standing in front of the support and looking through the window, the said letters or other design having the appearance of being positioned somewhat back of the plane of the support and entirely disassociated from' the screen 3 which is substantially invisible to the observer. In other words, the letters or other design formed in the stencil appear under such conditions to be lloating in the air somewhat in the rear of the support, thus presenting a most attractive and unique appearance and one which is calculated to hold the attention of the' observer with consequent advertising value which may be Lheightened when means are provided, such as a suitable socket for the bulb, which are operative to intermittently turn the current on and oi of the bulb so that the letters or design will intermittently appear and disappear.

Itis ordinarily desirable to have the let"- ters or other design properl centered with respect to the -window in t e support and the stencil and the casin will therefore preferably be arranged so t at the center of the design will bein vertical alignment with the center of the window while the apparent vertical height of the projected design with respect to the window may be readily Ychanged by varying. the angular inclination of the screen by engaging its rear edge in dierentnotches on the wings 18; thus by e'ecting a greater or less inclination of the screen the apparent position of the projected letters or designmay be readily brought to symmetrical relation with respect to the top and bottom of the window. It is to `be noted that as the projected letters or design are intended to be viewed through' the win-l dow when looking toward the front side of the 'support the stencil will ordinarily be disposed in inverted osition upon the casing or, in' other wor s, if the stencil is cut so asy to read when face up in the ordinary manner from left to right, it should' be turned face down when positioned on the casing in order that the projected letters or word willread in a proper manner when vviewed through the window'. Of course if the stencil is formed with a symmetrical design such as a star, instead of a word it is immaterial which face of the stencil. is uppermost when in position on thetcasing.

It will be apparent that after the screen is lifted off, thecasing may be readily detached from the support for transportation or shipment and as readily replaced in position when desired.

While I have herein illustrated and de? scribed with jconsiderable particularity a form of my invention intended for operative association with a di lay card, I do not thereby desire or intento in any manner limit myself solely to the use of the in-l vention with articles of that description nor to any specic form, construction or arrangement of the various parts entering mto the device, as it will be understood that the combination with a support having an apex'-` through the aperture from that side of the support opposite to that on which the screen is disposed.'

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a support having an aperture, of a casing. disped on one side of and carried by the support and having rearwardly extending screen supporting means,

a stencil, forming a part of the top wall of the casing, lighting means within the. casing, a screen disposed on said screen supporting means and also restin against the support, in inclinedrelation t erewith and in alignment with the aperture, said screen being adapted to receive the light rays passing through the stencil and to reflect said rays toward the support whereby a replica of the design formed in the stencil and projected onto the screen will be visible through .the aperture from that side of the support opposite to 'that on which the screen is disposed.

3. In a device of the classk described, the combination with a support having an aperture, of a casing'carried bythe support and having rearwardly extendi'n wings, a stencil removably carried by t e casing and forming a closure for an open side thereof, lightmg means within the casin and a screen disposed'j-'on the opposite si e of the stencil from the' lighting means and resting on sai-d wings and against the support and adapted to receive light rays passing through the stencil and to project them toward said aperture whereby a replica of the image formed in the stencil will 4be visible through the aperture from the side of the support opponte to that on which the screen `1s disposed.

4. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a'support having an aper-y ture, of a casingopen at the top, means for removably supporting the casm on the screen below the aperture, lighting means within the casing, a stencil disposed over the open top of the casing in inclined relation with the support, supporting means carried by the casing,kand a screen extending between said supporting means and sald support in inclined relation therewith and with the stencil and adapted to receive a projected image of the design formed vin the stencil so that said image will be visible mit til

through the aperture from the .side of the having vertical Walls and open at the top, a.

stencil extending over said open top, a lamp yin the casing beneath the stencil, a screen disposed above the stencil, screen supporting means carried by the casing and having a series of notches on their upper edges, and a support to which said casing is secured, said support having an vaperture aligned with said screen. 1

6. In a device of the class described, a casing having vertical walls and open at the top, a stencil, means for supportlng the stencil across said open. top, a lamp in the casing, a screen disposed above the stencil, screen supporting means including laterally spaced vertically disposed rearwardly extending Wings having serrated upper hinges and hingedly connected to fold to a position 'substantially parallel to one of said vertical walls or to a position substantially normal thereto, and a support to which said casing is secured, said support having an aperture aligned with said screen through which said screen is visible from the opposite side of the support to that to which the casing is secured.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto'set my hand this 18th day of June, 1924.

n EDWARD M.. MASSEY. 

